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Orford Music Festival’s sixth week will give audiences several ways to take in classical music, including three free or voluntary-contribution events in Orford and Saint-Denis-de-Brompton.
The week runs from July 13 to 19. Alongside three paid chamber music concerts at Salle Gilles-Lefebvre, Orford Musique is offering free programming designed to bring Academy musicians closer to the public.
The free events include an Orford Musique on the road concert in Saint-Denis-de-Brompton, a young-artist performance at Salle Gilles-Lefebvre, and an outdoor Friday evening event at Parc de la Rivière-aux-Cerises.
“In one week, the Orford public will experience three very different ways of approaching chamber music. It is this very diversity that makes our Festival rich, and that for 75 years has allowed us to broaden the horizon of classical music,” said Wonny Song, director of artistic innovation and strategic initiatives at Orford Musique, in a July 7 release.
The first free stop is Orford Musique sur la route, set for Wednesday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m., at Église Saint-Denis-de-Brompton in Saint-Denis-de-Brompton.
The travelling series brings Academy musicians into the community with a guided recital in an intimate, accessible format.
On Thursday, July 16, at 4:30 p.m., the Beaux concerts de la relève series continues at Salle Gilles-Lefebvre at Orford Musique. A voluntary contribution is suggested.
The series highlights young Academy musicians on the main stage. Orford Musique noted that some of the performers could also be among the students joining collectif9 later that evening.
The week’s third public event is Vendredis musicaux d’Orford, presented by the Municipality of Orford on Friday, July 17, at Parc de la Rivière-aux-Cerises.
Family activities begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by an outdoor concert by Academy artists in residence. The event is billed as a relaxed lead-in to the evening’s paid piano recital at Orford Musique.
The festival week also includes three paid concerts from July 16 to 18, each focused on a different approach to chamber music.
On Thursday, July 16, at 7:30 p.m., Montreal string ensemble collectif9 will perform De l’Europe à la mer Noire with Orford Academy students at Salle Gilles-Lefebvre.
The ensemble, a 2025 JUNO winner and 2025 Prix Opus performer of the year nominee, will present a program moving from Western Europe to beyond the Black Sea.
The first half includes works by George Bridgetower, Dobrinka Tabakova and Kinan Azmeh. In the second half, collectif9 expands into a chamber orchestra with Academy students for works by Leoš Janáček and Fazıl Say, along with an arrangement of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata.
Tickets are $25, plus taxes and fees.
British pianist Martin James Bartlett returns to Orford on Friday, July 17, at 7:30 p.m., after a previous appearance in 2024.
Bartlett was the first recipient of the Serdang Prize in 2022, an award created by pianist Rudolf Buchbinder to support young virtuosos internationally. He is also an exclusive Warner Classics artist.
According to Orford Musique, Bartlett’s recent season included debuts at the Lucerne and Moritzburg festivals, a return to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and two recitals at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.
His Orford recital will place classical works in dialogue with French romanticism, in a program meant to show the piano’s full emotional range.
Tickets are $59, plus taxes and fees.
On Saturday, July 18, at 4 p.m., flutist Robert Langevin and pianist Mariane Patenaude will perform Langevin et Patenaude : la belle époque at Salle Gilles-Lefebvre.
Langevin has been principal flute of the New York Philharmonic since September 2000 and has been connected to the Orford Musique Academy for more than 30 years.
Patenaude, a professor at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and winner of the Prix d’Europe, has worked with the Academy for more than 20 years. She is also a member of Orford Six Pianos, which opened the festival in June.
Their program includes Francis Poulenc’s Sonata, Maurice Ravel’s Sonatine in an arrangement for flute and piano, and a sonata by French composer Mel Bonis, arranged by Langevin.
Tickets are $59, plus taxes and fees.
Reservations for paid concerts can be made through orford.mu or by calling 819-843-3981, option 1.
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